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Interviewed by Anders SandvallOn stage and single pics of Leif by Anders SandvallThanks to Lars Criss at Escapi for help with the interview.Escapi provided the promo pics.

The Swedish doom-pioneers in Candlemass have recently released a new DVD and earlier this year came their long-awaited selftitled studio album. When the band arrived in Malmö, for the first time since 1990, on their tour together with Destruction and Deathchain I was obliged to take the opportunity to have a very short talk with the mastermind and band leader Leif Edling.

Hi Leif, well let me kick off this interview by asking you what do you think of Candlemass career so far, are you happy with what the band have achieved until now and did you ever think that someday you would be a part of a band that are today considered being inventors of a whole genre, doom metal?

The has been great and I could not have asked for more! We’re definitely a chapter in the history books of metal and I’m very proud of that. We didn’t think of it as “inventing doom” we just played….everything that happens nowadays is pure bonus.

Lets straighten out a few question marks right away. You reunited the band at the beginning of this decade and shortly after that you split up before you got together again, what was that all about?

We never said we should do an album in the first place and we were satisfied with the reunion tour. But fortunately we changed our minds and gave the world a heck of an album.

After all these years and arguments have the members put the hard words behind you and are you all friends now?

Yes.

Who owns the legal rights to your older albums today?

The band, but they are licensed to GMR right now.

When was the idea to record a new studio album born?

When I felt I had some real quality songs in me. That was the summer of 2004.I did demos with some stuff and the band loved it. “We must do an album”!!

What do you think of the new album when you look back on it today? is there anything you feel you should have done in a different way?

Nope…I’m very satisfied with how it turned out. It’s not a bad moment on it! We actually played all the songs from it on this tour.

You have written all the music and lyrics, how long did it take to write the album and where do you find inspiration for your music?

It took me about half a year to write all the music and lyrics. Hard work, but fun!! I don’t really need outside inspiration. When I get the feeling to write….I get the feeling.

When I first listened to the selftitled new album I noticed that the music went a lot faster compared to the tempo on you older albums, how come?

I don’t agree at all. I think it’s the same energy. All the other albums contained faster moments, midtempo moments and this one is not very different. It really stands up to the back-catalogue in every way I think.

You are currently out on a co headline-tour with Destruction amongst other and the tour is called Hellhounds of Doom and Thrash European tour, how has it go so far and what’s it like to be on tour with the legendary thrash act Destruction?

They are a great band and a great bunch of guys. We have fun in the tour bus, we drink with them, watch films together, can’t complain about anything really. Love it!!

Which song are the most wanted one by the fans when you’re out playing and which song do you think is the most fun to play?

Most Candlemass songs are fun to play. And we all have different favorites. Some of the songs I like to play live is “Under the oak”, “Dark are the veils” and “Assassin of the light”. And the fans scream the most to “Well of souls”, “Gallows end”, “Solitude”, “Samarithan” etc, etc…. the classics ya’know.

Which shows have been the best so far and what do you think of tonight’s gig? Is it going to be fun to meet the Malmö crowd?

Finland, Norway and Sweden have been killer! In Germany we had a couple of bad turnouts due to the frequent touring of bands there, but in general it’s been super! And I’m really looking forward to play in Malmö again. I like the city!

Do you have any plans on touring the States in a near future?

No, not really. We had a couple of proposals but we went on this European tour instead. Maybe with the next album.

Do we dare to hope that Candlemass is here to stay and continuing releasing albums in the future?

I don’t know what “to stay” means, sounds like we’re gonna keep on forever. I certainly don’t wanna do that. But I’m pretty convinced that we’ll do at least one more album.

We’re moving on with a few question regarding your sideproject Krux, how come you formed Krux?

Because I really like the people there: Mats, Fredrik, Jörgen, Carl and Peter. My mates!! And, I wasn’t doing Candlemass so I had plenty of time to kill! It was fun to do it.

Krux have until today released one studio album, are there going to come more albums with Krux?

Don’t forget the DVD, it’s excellent! I’m working on a new Krux album right now. Hopefully it will be out next spring.

To my knowledge Krux have only played two times in Stockholm so far, are there any plans on taking Krux out on a proper tour any time soon?

You need an album to do that. I’m not sure we can do a proper tour because all the guys in the band have other priorities. We’ll try to do some festivals next summer, and maybe we can do the odd gig here and there also.

Well, that’s all for now, thanks a lot for taking the time answering the questions and good luck tonight and on the rest of the tour. Is there anything you would like to say to the readers and fans outthere?

Keep on rocking!!!

Read the CD’s that have been reviewed with the band here in metal-rules.com